So King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia tells the BBC on the eve of his state visit to Britain that Britain is not doing enough to fight terrorism. Most countries were not taking the issue seriously, he claimed, "including, unfortunately, Great Britain".

Speaking through an interpreter, he added: "We have sent information to Great Britain before the terrorist attacks in Britain, but unfortunately, no action was taken. And it may have been able to maybe avert the tragedy." The Saudis have previously claimed that they passed to Britain information that might have averted the London bombings of 2005.

Unsurprisingly, British security and intelligence agencies deny the claims. Certainly, there is no evidence for it. Well, there wouldn't be, would there? Probably not.

What is not in doubt is that there are many things the Saudi regime itself would like to hide. His claims about Britain turning a blind eye to terrorism is a welcome distraction.

The Saudi royal family is still smarting about its country's record in exporting Islamist extremism. Osama bin Laden is Saudi. Fifteen of the suicide bombers in the September 11 2001 attacks on the US were Saudis. Saudi money funded the madrasas which continue to supply the Taliban with a cadre of religious zealots. A significant number of foreign fighters who have joined al-Qaida in Iraq are Saudis, according to western intelligence and military sources.

King Abdullah's claims are also a welcome distraction from the claims of bribery and corruption and the collapse of the Serious Fraud Office investigation into payments allegedly made by the British arms firm, BAE Systems. The decision to abandon the investigation came at a time when the British government was negotiating the sale of 72 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft for £4.43bn.

Ministers chose instead to point to alleged threats Saudi Arabia had made to cut off intelligence links with Britain. Lord Goldsmith, attorney general at the time, went so far as to claim that Britons might have died in terrorist attacks had the fraud inquiry gone ahead.

No doubt the Saudis have passed on "intelligence" to the west, including Britain - if only to try and purge itself of past sins. Britain's security and intelligence officials say they would have to act on information provided by the Saudis even it had been obtained by torture - something the Saudis practise.

A Saudi threat that, in future, it would not provide Britain with genuine intelligence that would save British lives seems as incredible as King Abdullah's claims that Britain had ignored such intelligence in the past.